Orbital A Novel (Booker Prize Winner)

"Orbital" is an amazing tale of earth, space and the human experience. Written in beautiful language, the short novel metaphorizes the incrompehensible sense of scale we as humans posess in relation to our environment and how small the human is compared to the vast emptiness of space. The crew inside the spaceship shows how human perception is driven by emotions of hope and childlike excitement but also hopelessness and nihilism. This short novel is definetely philosophical, poetic and altogether beautiful.

Sechs Astronauten auf ihrer Sechsmonat-Mission auf der ISS: Ein Leben in der Schwebe. Anders und doch routiniert, unbequem und doch wundervoll. Gemeinsam mit Samantha Harvey folgen wir den Spuren von sechs fiktiven Raumfahrern in ihrem weniger fiktiven Leben. Detailgenau recherchiert begleiten wir die Forscher und Entdecker auf ihrer Reise an den Rand der Menschheit und in die Mitte der Menschlichkeit, finden einen neuen Blickwinkel auf die Erde, aus der Ferne und doch ganz nah. Weder optimistisch noch pessimistisch berichtet ein allwissender Erzähler von immer gleichen Umlaufbahnen, die doch immer wieder faszinieren und die Menschen und ihre Probleme so allumfassend belanglos werden lassen. Samantha Harvey hat es, mit klugen Worten und Gedankenspielen, geschafft, die Menschheit als Ganzes zu erfassen, gleichzeitig so ignorant unbedeutend und so wunderbar bestaunenswert in ihrer verbohrten Hartnäckigkeit. Kein Buch zum Nebenbeilesen sondern eines zum Verweilen, Nachdenken und Träumen: Zum Schweben. Und zum Wiederlesen.

Samantha Harvey’s Orbital follows six astronauts aboard a space station as they orbit the Earth over the course of a single day. Through their fragmented reflections on life, Earth, and existence, Harvey crafts a meditative and lyrical narrative that blurs the line between prose and poetry. The novel leans more into sensation and contemplation than action, inviting the reader to experience the orbit not just physically, but emotionally and philosophically. Harvey’s use of language is undoubtedly stunning—her descriptions are vivid, often breathtaking, and filled with quiet awe. She paints imagery with remarkable precision, capturing the beauty of both space and Earth in a way that feels deeply human. However, despite these strengths, the deliberate lack of a traditional plot made it difficult for me to fully engage with the story. While I understand that this aimlessness is intentional—meant to mirror the vast, floating nature of space—I often felt unmoored myself, drifting through sentences without a clear sense of purpose or direction. That said, the book does succeed in communicating its core message: that life, in all its complexity and variety, matters. Everything—every small moment, every breath, every aspect of being—carries weight and meaning. Orbital might not offer a narrative arc in the usual sense, but it does leave a lingering sense of reverence for existence, and a reminder that significance often lies in the stillness, not just the movement.